Katherine Waterston on Alien: Covenant 2 - "I Haven’t Heard Anything in Ages"

[SM]

I wonder who's right by the end of the day SM

I won't.

[ELDERCLANLEADER]

Whiterabbit I never said a team wasn't helping , I just said giger created the look of the beast and most of the props and I stand by that. Just because you have penned a script , doesn't mean you created everything that's born out of it . O'bannon has aready set the record straight and said he basically wrote a script around a giger monster as he so elegantly put it. So I stand by what I said, and while Sm does make some good points , the way he is constantly trying to argue with me , I just don't get what his original point was in the first place , he clearly missed the context of what I was saying originally about alien covenant.

[Corporal Hicks]

Let's take a step back please. No-one is saying Giger didn't design the Alien, or that he doesn't deserve credit. As SM points out, Giger is actually the one who gets most of the credit when it comes to the Alien's creation. And it's true, without his originality Alien wouldn't be the success it is but he is one person out of several involved in bringing the Alien to life.

Anyway, let's actually return to the topic at hand.

And snipped. As I asked before, back on topic please. 

[TERMINATOR-SSD]

this comment section is amazing, [ Grabs popcorn ].....


2bh i hope we don't get anymore Alien films from Scott. Covenant has ruined everything for me. He's gone all George Lucas and lost the plot. I don't mind him making a android film based in the same universe but for the love of god keep it away from the Alien. Wish to god we got Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 instead. Who knows may be Disney will give Neill the chance after the Fox/Disney deal.

[Shimmering Canopy]

Blomkamp's A5's the only way forward IMO.
I know, that will doing away with AC sequels etc. But I say better cut our losses (especially when we know where it was all heading- sacrilege..!). Maybe they can do a hazy clip at the beginning of A% of A3, AR, AC etc, then have older Ripley wake up to hint it was all just a big long nightmare...

Shame they decided to explore the engineers IMO. Just like with the "The Thing" prequel, they explained things which, yes, you will always wonder about but which, ultimately, are just best unexplained, left to our imagination. "Things unknown and unknowable", as HPL would say.

[TC]

I'm not a huge fan of the prequels but I enjoyed them enough and am sufficiently interested to want Scott to cap off the trilogy.

However, I have to admit to having bad feelings about this.

I originally thought Scott, Lindelof and Spaihts had mapped out all 3 films. But then the release of Covenant revealed a mid-course correction mandated by the studio in order to "bring back the beast." So the Shaw plot line seems to have bitten the dust. Does this mean the entire 3 movie story arc is now thrown to the winds? Are we re-entering the territory of ad hoc serial writing again? (Shades of the new Star Wars trilogy debacle here.)

When you sit down to enjoy a good story nothing is more disturbing than the realisation that the storyteller doesn't know where he's going, that the tale is being made up as he goes along. Remember when JJ Abrams and Lindelof brought Lost to the TV screen? What mystery force brought all these people to the island? What was the invisible monster in the jungle? Who built the sealed bunker hidden in the ground? That was a great show until we realised the writers were as stupefied as we were. In the end, no one enjoys a shaggy dog story.

But maybe Scott has the spine of the story intact and under control. I'm hoping...

TC

[Alienon]

Yeah... Neill Blomkamp can restore Alien Universe.

I hope they don't wait another 5 years for new movie.

[reecebomb]

The prequels in a word are a failure, they failed on almost every aspect that made the original movies special. That said, i would have liked Ridley to finish this mess with a third movie, but for the love of god not try to tie it with the Alien 1979 (that would be the least imaginative thing to do) but stray further away from the classics. So the prequels would stop being prequels and become it's own trilogy thing in the alternative universe. There are enough contradictions as it is. It's more than apparent that the writers of this mess were mostly clueless how the story would pan out and Ridley just wasn't feeling it, he would have liked to do a fantasy film about the AI, which without the shoehorned Alien could have been a real classic. Still he need good writers but there were problems with the prequels addition to bad writing.

Yeah... Neill Blomkamp can restore Alien Universe.

I hope they don't wait another 5 years for new movie.

Neil Blomkamps film would be another fanboy film in alternative Alien universe, but i think at least it could be somewhat fun to watch.

[tleilaxu]

Blomkamp's A5's the only way forward IMO.
I know, that will doing away with AC sequels etc. But I say better cut our losses (especially when we know where it was all heading- sacrilege..!). Maybe they can do a hazy clip at the beginning of A% of A3, AR, AC etc, then have older Ripley wake up to hint it was all just a big long nightmare...

Shame they decided to explore the engineers IMO. Just like with the "The Thing" prequel, they explained things which, yes, you will always wonder about but which, ultimately, are just best unexplained, left to our imagination. "Things unknown and unknowable", as HPL would say.

Worst and most unoriginal post I've read in a long time. I thought the reactionary Neil Blomkamp fanboys were long gone (because it turns out nobody cares about Neil Blomhack who's for the most part made shitty films, they were just angry because Covenant ruined their fan theories). Think about what you're asking for m8; the man whose best film is about Apartheid with prawns, making an alien movie. It was and is always going to be shit.

[kliq316]

Seeing as people are still talking about Neil Blomkamp's idea for an Aliens film, it would be safe to say your comment is incorrect and unoriginal in itself. To the original poster, you also likely sound like a bitter 'Alien 3' fanboy who is just angry that his idea would wipe that film from the universe's canon.

Just saying.

[Corporal Hicks]

None of this Alien 3 or Aliens fanboy rubbish, please.

[D88M]

What is up with those comments? Relax, people! Anyway, both Prometheus and Covenant were pretty mutilated in the editing aspect, they cant compromise to their vision and try to appeal to *some* fans at the same time, Covenant was dissapointed on how it did not followed up Prometheus in any way, seems like fox has no idea what to do with the franchise, just let Ridley do his thing, we can still get a third good movie.

[Shimmering Canopy]

Points taken, fair enough
I only mentioned NBK because he's the only director out there who's actively shown interest in the franchise, that's all.  But anyone else with a potentially good enough credentials will do just as fine, defo.

Still think removing the mystery of the derelict was a bad move, not to mention where it was all heading (i.e. human-made robot created the aliens). Besides that, they always seem to overcomplicate things. ust keep it simple: good actors, good script, slow burning, tension-filled. This is why I loved the Aussie film Black Water (2007). Simple, but effective. Now try replacing the croc with an alien, the bush with a lonely offworld base. Wouldn't even need to be an expensive movie. IMHO anyway.

[David Weyland]

I think the prequels in time will be looked at much much more kindly. Nothing's perfect but overall they are quality made films despite what wannabe Colonial marines or HP Lovecraft fans bleat. It was always such a tall order to satisfy everyone. When Ridley gets round to making directors cuts like some of the great fancuts out there they will be not classics but worthy of their place high up the franchise

[chris_bert]

It is kind of odd that Katherine Waterston hasn't been approached about the final film. I'm torn about whether I'll bother even watching a third film because I guess I was one of the weirdos that liked exploring the idea of the Space Jockey and was very excited that the Prometheus film was going to do this...or so I thought. I was disappointed with the Deacon thing in Prometheus, but then when Shaw and David left in the Juggernaught to head to the Engineer's home world, I thought maybe just maybe there would be more about the Engineers. Then Covenant comes along and I'm not sure what film I'm watching, and for me the only thing that tied Covenant to Prometheus was the character David. The Engineers are wiped out by David and that's the end of that. So like Jan in the "Brady Bunch," it's David, David, David. What's the deal with David? I don't find the character that interesting anymore now that there is no interaction with Shaw. If all this mischief is caused by a synthetic like David, then just create another synthetic to fix and undo everything that David has done...problem solved.

So to xenomorph or not to xenomorph...is that Ridley's question? Is Ridley still planning to go full circle with a tie-in to the 1979 Alien film? Can he tie the film in anymore with the direction that Covenant went in?

I don't know anymore...I'm suspicious that we'll just get another visually stunning film, but nothing cohesive. I mean we got answers with Prometheus that the Engineers are not what we thought they were (still don't know why the wanted to wipe us out though) and we found out what David was up to in the Covenant film (some of it was nightmarish and scary, but not too scary), so how would anything that's happened in Prometheus and Covenant tie into a third film?

Alas, I'm grateful for Corporal Hicks and this blog as it sounds like some of you guys have better ideas than the studio executives, so at least I can come here and read all the thoughtful and creative ideas you guys have and it's not a total loss.

Yay to Ridley if he can pull off a third film, but where in the world is he going with the film? How in the world is it ever going to tie-in with the original Alien film and LV-426? Is he still planning to do this? He mentioned the xenomorph was cooked (something like the "beast is cooked"), so I thought he was moving in a new direction. Now is he saying he wants to go back to exploring the original xenomorph and alien? Seemed like Covenant was all about David, so will the third film not be about David and it's going to be back to the original xenomorph/alien? So what was the scene with the Deacon in Prometheus about again? Anymore exploration with the Deacon? What about all the new neomorphs with Covenant? Will there be any more development with these creatures? Is this the end of the black goo/accelerant (sp.)? Will we explore anything else with the accelerant?

Maybe I'm just suffering movie-goer fatigue and I've just given up with the whole thing. I feel like the journey with the first two films (Prometheus and Covenant) has left me uninspired because I found them to be so dis-jointed or disconnected (that's just me), so I'm not sure I'm interested in a third film anymore. But who knows...maybe we'll get something that's really interesting and cool?